Lockheed spacecraft built 10 minutes down Titan Road reaches asteroid, discovers water
Lockheed-built OSIRIS-REx launches from Cape Canaveral
I'm always thrilled to share space news from Lockheed Martin's Waterton Canyon campus, just down Titan Road from Sterling Ranch. My mother-in-law worked for and ultimately retired from Lockheed, and my husband has found memories of touring the Waterton Canyon campus when he was a boy. Add to this the fact that Sterling Ranch and surrounding communities are home to many Lockheed employees and 30-40% of Sterling Ranch's elementary school's students' parents work at Lockheed, and, well, suffice to say Lockheed and Sterling Ranch in a way go hand-in-hand.
In early December Lockheed’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, built in Waterton Canyon, arrived at the Bennu asteroid. Bennu is located 75 million miles from Earth. OSIRIS-REx’s primary mission is to help scientists learn more about how the planets formed, gather data on asteroids that could impact Earth, and ultimately understand more about how life began. And OSIRIS-REx is already working on accomplishing this mission. On Monday of this week NASA and Lockheed announced that they've discovered water on Bennu.
The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft at Lockheed's Waterton Canyon campus
Add the news about OSIRIS-REx to the news about Lockheed's InSight spacecraft landing on Mars in late November, and there's been a lot of cool space news recently for Sterling Ranch's Waterton Canyon neighbor.
Last but not least, putting on my Sterling Ranch realtor hat (sorry, I can't help myself!), I couldn't be more excited to have Lockheed and Waterton Canyon down Titan Road. Sterling Ranch homeowners and prospective buyers should be thrilled that so much investment (read about Lockheed's new $350 million space "Factory of the Future" here), and so many professional jobs (read about Lockheed's new 550 jobs here) are being created just down the road. And Lockheed isn't the only major employer nearby. UCHealth in Highlands Ranch is hiring for more than 200 positions and Children's Hospital continues to grow. Regardless, as Sterling Ranch grows, having premier, fast-growing employers nearby should be a tremendous asset for homeowners and the community.
If you have any questions about Sterling Ranch or buying or building a home, as your Sterling Ranch realtor I'd love to help! Contact me any time at mariel@focus-realtors.com.